Writer. Teacher. Potter. VisDare Creator.

If you follow the link (I always post a link to the photo source, btw), you’ll see that this is a snapshot from inside an abandoned mental asylum in Manteno, Illinois. With all the discussion happening (finally!) regarding mental illness, I find this to be an especially powerful symbol of our current dialogue (Or non-dialogue?) about this issue.

Clicking the link leads you to Etsy, but also to a brief explanation about this particular room, and the woman who made the walls and tubs her diary. (NOTE: Could contain trigger material.)

Of course, your entry doesn’t HAVE to be about mental illness – but it could be. Or it could spin a hundred other stories. The main thing is to go where this image speaks to you. 150 words. One week. Entries posted in the comments. Visual Dare tab is there with FAQs for newcomers.

Sift those words. Write those entries. I know you all have a powerful story to match this image.

I learned she hadn’t told me everything the first time I visited a dome. It had take me so long to squeeze through the crack in the wall of the dome I’d left, but the wall of the dome I visited was paper thin. In one step, I was inside.

The inside was filled with neat houses, arranged along streets. Well kept lawns, flowerbeds, big cars and trucks in all the driveways. All the people dressed similarly, had similar haircuts, and similar behavior. It was like where I’d come from.

But the dome’s wall was covered with black, painted letters. The way the people in that dome felt about everything they hated, or didn’t understand, or were afraid of, was painted on the wall of the dome.

It was an insight I didn’t want.

I went back outside, where it was safe, beautiful, and those hatreds and fears were gone.

“The way it’s hidden at the back of the house in the thicket of oak trees is very clever. It’s not at all noticeable.”

“The former owner thought of everything. There’s even a hidden cave under the floorboards. Would you like us to get rid of the bathtubs?”

“No. Four bathtubs are perfect. I can visualize the setting. The first will catch the blood oozing from nasty cuts. The second is neatly situated by an outlet. When it’s brimming with water, the air will sparkle when a plugged-in toaster splashes in. The third will have a plastic shower curtain, all snug and smothering, if you see what I mean. The last will be for scrubbing, right down to the bone.”